Valentine
04-29-06, 09:56 PM
This is Kastira/Raelyse. This is my old character, Kade. He had 27,000 EXP and 1,000 GP.
Vital Statistics
Name – Kadarus The Bleeder
Former Name – Kadarus Lien Salidan
Title – The Valentine Bleeder; Hromagh’s Emissary of Balance
Age – Formerly 20
Alignment – Hromagh the Strong
Height – 5’8
Weight – 250 lbs
Weapons
Kadarus the Bleeder assumed all of the weapons from his former life, namely:
Titanium Katana – A blood red hue surrounds the four foot blade of this weapon, which he obtained many, many moons ago. It was given him to his old master, Tuliran Kjloroman. It is seen, covered by an iron sheathe and tucked into his belt. It appears as though Kadarus’ tangle with the Direlings may have triggered a change in this weapon, though the effect remains to be seen.
The following items were all bought by Kade on Tanthanas or Oldthanas.
Adamantine Broad Sword – A enormous weapon made out of Althanas’ strongest known element. It is four feet long and one foot wide. The cross guard has been removed for stylistic reasons. Its leather sheathe contains a strap, which Kadarus uses to secure the weapon to his back.
Dual Murasame –These twin foot long Damascus daggers are sheathed and placed on opposing ends of his waist.
Shurikens – Presently, he has eleven of these titanium weapons, which he places along the inside of either of the sleeves on his trench coat, ensuring that he can whip them out and throw them at lightning pace.
Armour
During his trip to Kachuck with the bandit Yari Rafanas, the former samurai purchased a ring mail, imbued with the magic of Lightweight and a Rune of Free Action. This makes him feel as though the ring mail weighs less than nothing and he can move as easily as though he were naked. The armour is short sleeved, coming up to his elbows and halting just above his waist. He wears it on the inside of his trench coat.
Skills
Promised Power – During the Hromaghian rituals that transformed him into the emissary of balance, all of Kadarus’ former powers were stripped away for reason of being too trivial to actually be useful. Instead, the Direlings bestowed on him a new set of innate powers to make him perfect for his newfound vocation.
First, his already considerable strength is amplified to superhuman standards, with room to grow even stronger. He can now lift a five hundred pound weight with relative ease while if he strains he can lift up to eight hundred pounds. His second advancement is to his speed and stamina. Like his strength, he now possesses a superhuman equivalent. He can run and jump further and faster than he did before without tiring. His reflexes have also improved.
Over short distances, the Direlings granted him the power to teleport. It can be used every five minutes and is triggered at thought. After a half-second delay, Kadarus can teleport anywhere within a five meter radius of himself. He can use this while he is running. This ability can only be used every one hour, or if used in rapid succession, it can be used five times with a three second ‘cooldown period’ in between teleports. If Kadarus uses the latter version of the ability, he can only make his next teleport after sleep. Additionally, once he is fully invisible, his footsteps became twice as loud while he can still be detected by magical abilities that can see through invisibility.
Invisibility – Kadarus can temporarily make himself invisible, similarly triggered by a thought. This instead has a five second delay though and a ten second conversion period where he starts out opaque and slowly becomes translucent, then transparent. The period of invisibility can last up to ten minutes and can be used every six hours. Kadarus can voluntarily end the invisibility. Anything, including living creatures that he touches while he is invisible also experiences a similar conversion period before turning invisible.
Remnant – This ability enables Kadarus to create up to two magical balls of energy. Shortly after being created, these black balls of energy gather strength for one minute before they must be used or they will combust, dealing damage to the user instead of his target. When it is gathering strength, the ball of energy acts similar to a black hole, sucking in anything that weighs less than ten pounds with the area into itself. The area of effect of the sucking ability is limited to a ten foot radius. When it later combusts, whatever it sucked into also explodes along with it, making the attack more powerful. If he creates one magic ball, it can grow as large as ten feet in diameter while if he creates two, each can only be half as big. Kadarus cannot attack during this process and must focus almost solely on the attack while it is absorbing or it will combust on him. However, he can throw the dark ball of energy at any time but obviously, the bigger it is, the more powerful it is. When it is first formed, the ball is only one foot in diameter, or half that if he simultaneously creates two. This attack can be used five times before it has to be cooldowned for a period of six hours or after sleep.
Bloodlust – Though not nearly on the scale of a vampire, Kadarus constantly thinks about killing to fulfill his purpose. It is similar to hunger in that he can satisfy it but the urge will always return. The more people he kills, the more Hromagh will amplify his strength. For scale, for every person he kills, he can lift a tenth of a pound more than before.
Deity Link – Kadarus’ soul was tied to Hromagh and his acolytes during the rituals, ensuring that he can be fed information. Only Hromagh can control and feed pain to the Bleeder, while all the acolytes can do is talk to him.
Weapon Proficiencies
Katana – Honed through years of training and even more years of practice, Kadarus has expert skill with a katana.
Sword – Kadarus has advanced skill with all other types of swords, having used them in various situations. His skill with the broad sword is slightly better than advanced.
Dagger – The former samurai wields all daggers with advanced skill, but finds the Murasame that he possesses a bit different and as such, he only possesses a basic to advanced skill with the weapon.
Throwing Weapon – More through trial and error than actual training, Kadarus can throw any of his weapons with elementary to basic skill. His shuriken throwing ability is slightly better, though not enough to even warrant the basic level.
Dual Wielding – Kadarus is an expert when it comes to dual wielding. However, his katana and Murasame are the only weapons he can wield in both his master (right) and off hand. While the others can occupy his off hand, they are unwieldy there and his fighting form will most likely suffer.
Unarmed – A beginner to elementary fighter without any weapons, Kadarus wins more through his strength than skill in unarmed fights.
Personality
Where there was once the jubilant and happy go lucky character of Kadarus Salidan, there lies now nothing except for the devotion to Hromagh the Strong. Twisted by whatever rituals were conducted on him by the god’s acolytes, the former samurai now shows nothing more except his desire to purge Althanas of all life that is deemed unworthy by Hromagh or any of his servants, including himself. There is a hint of his former life dwelling within the blood thirsty façade, by his desire to seek out and eliminate any person he has met before to ensure that any memory of Kade Lien are eliminated from memory.
However, deep within the façade, the character once known as Kade Lien still exists, though he is shoved away to the furthest reaches of his new mind. There is a diffusion process going on in the back of the Bleeder’s mind, with the old Kade slowly filtering back. However, the process is so slow that it could be decades before he returns to even a shadow of his former self and centuries before he is restored to the lecherous alcoholic. By which time, Hromagh’s servants would have made sure that the rituals are performed again.
Kadarus’ definition of those unworthy to live extends to almost all sentient creatures on Althanas, for he will continue to slay for his god as long as he is informed to do so. The psychic link with Hromagh and his servants ensures that those that they deem worthy are spared, though that occurrence is rare.
Even though he is no where near his former self, the present personality of Kadarus the Bleeder is slightly affected by that of Kade Lien. He often taunts his victims before he kills them, he prefers to kill men as opposed to women and ugly women as opposed to men. However, he has developed a slightly sadistic streak in which, he will sometimes torture his victims for a few moments before killing them. In large crowds however, he prefers to kill as many as possible.
He seems to be ashamed of his former self and deep within, he does not resent the transformation. He is somewhat happy that he now has a purpose in life as opposed to his mindless meandering before. Though, whether he would rather stay in his present state or retain his freedom remains to be seen. At the very least his alcoholic and perverse tendencies have vanished.
Appearance
The figure of Kade Lien had been handsome, muscular and that has not changed much when he was transformed into the Valentine Bleeder. However, there is a noticeable difference between the present self and his past self.
His once tanned brown skin has been transformed into a paler form. His tone is not the whitest in all of Althanas, but it is definitely below the norm. His once messy silver hair is now slightly more well kept, though not t the extent where every hair is perfectly aligned. His once cheerful demeanor is now replaced with a neutral one, save for the few moments when he receives sadistic pleasure, which he clearly emotes. His muscular physique has shrunk a little bit from before, though this is more due to more focused definition than growing weaker.
What really makes the difference between the Kadarus of past and the one of now is the bizarre transformation of his eye color. What was once a seductive baby blue has transformed into a malicious yellow. When he opens his eyes and shows them off fully, it is almost scary to all that see it. For his eyes and his demeanor ensure that it almost feels as if he is examining them… and he is. Using then, he terrifies his meeker victims before he quickly ends their existence.
The skin tight clothing has been discarded for something a little more menacing. A black leather trench coat covers the top half of his body. It has four pockets, though they are never filled with anything noticeable. On the bottom half of his body, he wears leather pants that while are not skin tight like Kade Lien’s, are revealing enough to be found attractive but are not to the extent where they are as unwieldy as his predecessors. Beneath his trench coat, Kadarus seldom wears anything at all as he feels that such a useless piece of cloth would only inhibit him. If he does wear something, his attractive torso is covered up slightly by his chain mail. The imposing figure of Kadarus Salidan is completed by the plethora of weapons, clearly visible on his person.
History
“Urgh, Yuck, Disgusting!”
Those were the first words that Kadarus Salidan ever heard in Althanas. They were the words that his parents described him as, for all the time they could. But by no means was he ugly. He never cried once he had come into existence, he never cried when he was hungry. He was a very beautiful young boy and whenever a visitor acknowledged this, either of his parents would snort, quickly change the subject or down a bottle of alcohol.
So that was how Kade lived his life. Even though his parents hated him and treated him worse than the pigs on their farm, everyone else thought he was a little angel. It was due to his rather strange silver hair, his pretty eyes or his adorable face. He had many friends and ‘got married’ when he was three years old to the cutest girl in town. But then, more girls liked him than he intended and soon he began to fall in love with every girl in sight. That was the beginnings of Kade obsessive infatuation. He led a very happy life, until he was four when it was either destiny or tragedy that began to unfold.
Unnamed bandits had heard of this town which was rich and filled with the weakest people that could ever be found. They attacked, plundering and killing everyone in sight. No one was spared, not even the women and children. But there was one boy who escaped the onslaught, hiding in a wine cellar. So for three days, a four year old Kade hid in the disgusting wine cellar and drank the dirtiest wine and ate whatever he could find, rats, cockroaches or if he was lucky, the occasional earthworm.
After three days, the young boy decided that he had enough. He was strong and tall for his age and could take on any bandit, at least in his mind. He came out, finding nothing alive in the town. Even the animals were killed. The plants were burnt to the ground and nothing was left of the houses but charred remains. Young Kade was devastated, running around and searching for any remains of anyone or anything. Nothing was there. Everything was either destroyed or stolen.
However, a raid such as this one does not go completely unnoticed by the outside world. A samurai fool-cum-hero, known as Tuliran Kjloroman had heard of the attack, but arrived quite late to make a rescue of any sort. He took Kade in, mending his broken heart and teaching him the values of life – particularly women, gambling and alcohol. Eventually, when he was six years old the young boy became his vibrant self once again.
Kjloroman was a great samurai, though that was greatly skewed by his love for those three sins. Kade began to learn these horrible things from the man as they traveled together. At first Kjloroman wanted to send the boy to the nearest orphanage, but every time he came back, no matter how fast the samurai moved. Eventually, he decided to care for the boy himself. As time passed, Kjloroman began to notice Kade had the strength, the will power and the love to become a samurai as great as himself. It was then that the chains of apprentice and master were formed.
It was long process, of ten years to be precise. His master’s carefree and lecherous spirit ensured that his apprentice was given a holistic view of the world, particularly the part that he enjoyed. Overtime, Kade began to enjoy those things too. Once again, he was a hit with the females almost instantly. He broke a lot of hearts, but his remained untouched. Also, after spending three days stuck in a wine cellar doing nothing but drinking alcohol one would obviously become addicted to the substance. And that was exactly what happened.
When he was sixteen years old, Kade began to notice that his thirty five year old master was slowing down, not being the vibrant warrior he once was. He knew that if he wanted to make his mark on the world like he had for the whole of his life, he would have to leave his master. So, after a tearful goodbye and assurances they would meet again, master and apprentice parted ways.
Kade journeyed from town to town, from continent to continent drinking alcohol and fornicating with countless women but nothing progressed from there. He found himself no closer to becoming famous and the only thing that kept him going was the thought of the next woman in the next town. Eventually, though by chance, Kade ran into two different personalities which ultimately sculpted the person that he became. The first was Max Dirks, who he met while he took part in the Simulated Strike Scenario, where he began to learn the skills of combat in Althanas. This intrigued him and he began to slowly lose his despicable habits, especially when he encountered Logan McCloud who increased his proficiency with his weapons. As time went by, he began to slowly lose those desires as his urge to become famous grew and grew.
Kade was given the platform to perform when he encountered the powerful elven mage Elrundir Galadhrim. The fight ended as a draw, but at that moment, the samurai began to develop a lust for power so he could defeat Althanas’ greatest. He would force his way into the annals of history. This led to a fruitful journey to the necromancer city of Nakaleth with the ranger Raevyrn Taerael where he found the Crest of Myrusia, a mystical headband with untold powers.
It turned out that it was one of the many crests that were being searched for by the powerful Adam Mada Deus, leader of a power group known as the Façade. As one of the ‘chosen’ crest holders, Kade was instantly accepted into their ranks. It was there that he learnt about the powers within his Crest. It granted him superhuman strength and speed, but at the sacrifice of control of his body. By the time, he realized this though, it was too late and the presence within the crest had become so strong on his mind that he could not muster the strength to rid himself of it. During his time with the Façade, Kade made many friends, particularly the bandit Yari Rafanas who he enjoyed many adventures with.
The definitive moment of his career came when the Façade, in a bid for power, declared war on the Ice Reavers. This pitted Kade against his friends Treszlin and Promethius, as well as the powerful ice demon Ashiakin. During the war, in a bid of desperation, the samurai invoked the powers of the Crest of Myrusia to defeat a Ice Reaver. Unfortunately, he also turned the tide of the war by killing Treszlin, the Ice Reaver Leader. His next victim was his friend and comrade, Yari Rafanas. He even briefly fought with Ashiakin, though the demon ultimately got away. At the conclusion of the war, ashamed with his sins, Kade left the Façade, triggering the exodus of members.
During that time, he wandered around Althanas trying to serve a form of self penance for his sins by saving people and performing minor acts of heroics but none even came close to filling the void in his life. It was then that he felt as though vigilantism could have solved his problem but it did nothing except build his bad reputation. Due to his publicized acts in the Ice Reaver-Façade war and his sense of twisted justice, he began to gain the nickname – “Kadarus the Bleeder.” However, it was not long before the Tel Aglarim of Raiaera began to grow suspicious and decided that his presence was harmful to their country. They attacked him with intent to kill but the samurai managed to escape to Salvar, the one place he thought he could find peace and repent for his sins.
Instead of staying with civilization, Kade journeyed into the icy wilderness, searching for something, anything that could restore him to his former self. It was there that he encountered Direlings, a race of immensely strong humanoids, which served as acolytes to their Elder Thayne, the god Hromagh the Strong. Mistaking them for monsters, the samurai’s warrior instincts made the mistake of slaying one. From the very mountains, a horde of them appeared, mauling him to death. The creatures took his corpse to their main temple of worship in Salvar. It was there that they made his offering in an attempt to try and curb their god’s eternal wrath.
It did not work, but Hromagh calmed down for enough time to name Kadarus as too useful to be discarded to the Phantaria and instead sent his soul to the Pyre. There, his soul was subjected to heavy manipulation while Hromagh’s disciples performed similar rituals on his body. The process was long, but when the being formerly known as Kade Lien returned to the Firmament, he was completely different to the one that had existed before.
He had been given the purpose that he had been seeking. He had become a servant to Hromagh the Strong, given the title of his Emissary of Balance. His aim in life had been changed from pointless to one that his new god found meaningful. Hromagh viewed Althanas as being too populated by those that he viewed as unworthy and he had created his emissary for one reason… To restore balance to the world.
However, to ensure that his vision of Survival of the Fittest was to become reality, Hromagh needed his emissary to be calculating and judgmental, as well as devoted to his task. With Kade’s habits as well as his personality, he was far from fit to become that servant. Hromagh’s power was vast though and such a task was easy for him. He stripped the samurai of his emotions, essentially stealing his heart, and locked them away in an unknown location. He then began to warp his powers to make him more ideal for his mission until he became almost unrecognizable.
With his newly formed scion in place, Hromagh and his disciples unleashed Kadarus on the world, ironically naming him “The Valentine Bleeder.”
Vital Statistics
Name – Kadarus The Bleeder
Former Name – Kadarus Lien Salidan
Title – The Valentine Bleeder; Hromagh’s Emissary of Balance
Age – Formerly 20
Alignment – Hromagh the Strong
Height – 5’8
Weight – 250 lbs
Weapons
Kadarus the Bleeder assumed all of the weapons from his former life, namely:
Titanium Katana – A blood red hue surrounds the four foot blade of this weapon, which he obtained many, many moons ago. It was given him to his old master, Tuliran Kjloroman. It is seen, covered by an iron sheathe and tucked into his belt. It appears as though Kadarus’ tangle with the Direlings may have triggered a change in this weapon, though the effect remains to be seen.
The following items were all bought by Kade on Tanthanas or Oldthanas.
Adamantine Broad Sword – A enormous weapon made out of Althanas’ strongest known element. It is four feet long and one foot wide. The cross guard has been removed for stylistic reasons. Its leather sheathe contains a strap, which Kadarus uses to secure the weapon to his back.
Dual Murasame –These twin foot long Damascus daggers are sheathed and placed on opposing ends of his waist.
Shurikens – Presently, he has eleven of these titanium weapons, which he places along the inside of either of the sleeves on his trench coat, ensuring that he can whip them out and throw them at lightning pace.
Armour
During his trip to Kachuck with the bandit Yari Rafanas, the former samurai purchased a ring mail, imbued with the magic of Lightweight and a Rune of Free Action. This makes him feel as though the ring mail weighs less than nothing and he can move as easily as though he were naked. The armour is short sleeved, coming up to his elbows and halting just above his waist. He wears it on the inside of his trench coat.
Skills
Promised Power – During the Hromaghian rituals that transformed him into the emissary of balance, all of Kadarus’ former powers were stripped away for reason of being too trivial to actually be useful. Instead, the Direlings bestowed on him a new set of innate powers to make him perfect for his newfound vocation.
First, his already considerable strength is amplified to superhuman standards, with room to grow even stronger. He can now lift a five hundred pound weight with relative ease while if he strains he can lift up to eight hundred pounds. His second advancement is to his speed and stamina. Like his strength, he now possesses a superhuman equivalent. He can run and jump further and faster than he did before without tiring. His reflexes have also improved.
Over short distances, the Direlings granted him the power to teleport. It can be used every five minutes and is triggered at thought. After a half-second delay, Kadarus can teleport anywhere within a five meter radius of himself. He can use this while he is running. This ability can only be used every one hour, or if used in rapid succession, it can be used five times with a three second ‘cooldown period’ in between teleports. If Kadarus uses the latter version of the ability, he can only make his next teleport after sleep. Additionally, once he is fully invisible, his footsteps became twice as loud while he can still be detected by magical abilities that can see through invisibility.
Invisibility – Kadarus can temporarily make himself invisible, similarly triggered by a thought. This instead has a five second delay though and a ten second conversion period where he starts out opaque and slowly becomes translucent, then transparent. The period of invisibility can last up to ten minutes and can be used every six hours. Kadarus can voluntarily end the invisibility. Anything, including living creatures that he touches while he is invisible also experiences a similar conversion period before turning invisible.
Remnant – This ability enables Kadarus to create up to two magical balls of energy. Shortly after being created, these black balls of energy gather strength for one minute before they must be used or they will combust, dealing damage to the user instead of his target. When it is gathering strength, the ball of energy acts similar to a black hole, sucking in anything that weighs less than ten pounds with the area into itself. The area of effect of the sucking ability is limited to a ten foot radius. When it later combusts, whatever it sucked into also explodes along with it, making the attack more powerful. If he creates one magic ball, it can grow as large as ten feet in diameter while if he creates two, each can only be half as big. Kadarus cannot attack during this process and must focus almost solely on the attack while it is absorbing or it will combust on him. However, he can throw the dark ball of energy at any time but obviously, the bigger it is, the more powerful it is. When it is first formed, the ball is only one foot in diameter, or half that if he simultaneously creates two. This attack can be used five times before it has to be cooldowned for a period of six hours or after sleep.
Bloodlust – Though not nearly on the scale of a vampire, Kadarus constantly thinks about killing to fulfill his purpose. It is similar to hunger in that he can satisfy it but the urge will always return. The more people he kills, the more Hromagh will amplify his strength. For scale, for every person he kills, he can lift a tenth of a pound more than before.
Deity Link – Kadarus’ soul was tied to Hromagh and his acolytes during the rituals, ensuring that he can be fed information. Only Hromagh can control and feed pain to the Bleeder, while all the acolytes can do is talk to him.
Weapon Proficiencies
Katana – Honed through years of training and even more years of practice, Kadarus has expert skill with a katana.
Sword – Kadarus has advanced skill with all other types of swords, having used them in various situations. His skill with the broad sword is slightly better than advanced.
Dagger – The former samurai wields all daggers with advanced skill, but finds the Murasame that he possesses a bit different and as such, he only possesses a basic to advanced skill with the weapon.
Throwing Weapon – More through trial and error than actual training, Kadarus can throw any of his weapons with elementary to basic skill. His shuriken throwing ability is slightly better, though not enough to even warrant the basic level.
Dual Wielding – Kadarus is an expert when it comes to dual wielding. However, his katana and Murasame are the only weapons he can wield in both his master (right) and off hand. While the others can occupy his off hand, they are unwieldy there and his fighting form will most likely suffer.
Unarmed – A beginner to elementary fighter without any weapons, Kadarus wins more through his strength than skill in unarmed fights.
Personality
Where there was once the jubilant and happy go lucky character of Kadarus Salidan, there lies now nothing except for the devotion to Hromagh the Strong. Twisted by whatever rituals were conducted on him by the god’s acolytes, the former samurai now shows nothing more except his desire to purge Althanas of all life that is deemed unworthy by Hromagh or any of his servants, including himself. There is a hint of his former life dwelling within the blood thirsty façade, by his desire to seek out and eliminate any person he has met before to ensure that any memory of Kade Lien are eliminated from memory.
However, deep within the façade, the character once known as Kade Lien still exists, though he is shoved away to the furthest reaches of his new mind. There is a diffusion process going on in the back of the Bleeder’s mind, with the old Kade slowly filtering back. However, the process is so slow that it could be decades before he returns to even a shadow of his former self and centuries before he is restored to the lecherous alcoholic. By which time, Hromagh’s servants would have made sure that the rituals are performed again.
Kadarus’ definition of those unworthy to live extends to almost all sentient creatures on Althanas, for he will continue to slay for his god as long as he is informed to do so. The psychic link with Hromagh and his servants ensures that those that they deem worthy are spared, though that occurrence is rare.
Even though he is no where near his former self, the present personality of Kadarus the Bleeder is slightly affected by that of Kade Lien. He often taunts his victims before he kills them, he prefers to kill men as opposed to women and ugly women as opposed to men. However, he has developed a slightly sadistic streak in which, he will sometimes torture his victims for a few moments before killing them. In large crowds however, he prefers to kill as many as possible.
He seems to be ashamed of his former self and deep within, he does not resent the transformation. He is somewhat happy that he now has a purpose in life as opposed to his mindless meandering before. Though, whether he would rather stay in his present state or retain his freedom remains to be seen. At the very least his alcoholic and perverse tendencies have vanished.
Appearance
The figure of Kade Lien had been handsome, muscular and that has not changed much when he was transformed into the Valentine Bleeder. However, there is a noticeable difference between the present self and his past self.
His once tanned brown skin has been transformed into a paler form. His tone is not the whitest in all of Althanas, but it is definitely below the norm. His once messy silver hair is now slightly more well kept, though not t the extent where every hair is perfectly aligned. His once cheerful demeanor is now replaced with a neutral one, save for the few moments when he receives sadistic pleasure, which he clearly emotes. His muscular physique has shrunk a little bit from before, though this is more due to more focused definition than growing weaker.
What really makes the difference between the Kadarus of past and the one of now is the bizarre transformation of his eye color. What was once a seductive baby blue has transformed into a malicious yellow. When he opens his eyes and shows them off fully, it is almost scary to all that see it. For his eyes and his demeanor ensure that it almost feels as if he is examining them… and he is. Using then, he terrifies his meeker victims before he quickly ends their existence.
The skin tight clothing has been discarded for something a little more menacing. A black leather trench coat covers the top half of his body. It has four pockets, though they are never filled with anything noticeable. On the bottom half of his body, he wears leather pants that while are not skin tight like Kade Lien’s, are revealing enough to be found attractive but are not to the extent where they are as unwieldy as his predecessors. Beneath his trench coat, Kadarus seldom wears anything at all as he feels that such a useless piece of cloth would only inhibit him. If he does wear something, his attractive torso is covered up slightly by his chain mail. The imposing figure of Kadarus Salidan is completed by the plethora of weapons, clearly visible on his person.
History
“Urgh, Yuck, Disgusting!”
Those were the first words that Kadarus Salidan ever heard in Althanas. They were the words that his parents described him as, for all the time they could. But by no means was he ugly. He never cried once he had come into existence, he never cried when he was hungry. He was a very beautiful young boy and whenever a visitor acknowledged this, either of his parents would snort, quickly change the subject or down a bottle of alcohol.
So that was how Kade lived his life. Even though his parents hated him and treated him worse than the pigs on their farm, everyone else thought he was a little angel. It was due to his rather strange silver hair, his pretty eyes or his adorable face. He had many friends and ‘got married’ when he was three years old to the cutest girl in town. But then, more girls liked him than he intended and soon he began to fall in love with every girl in sight. That was the beginnings of Kade obsessive infatuation. He led a very happy life, until he was four when it was either destiny or tragedy that began to unfold.
Unnamed bandits had heard of this town which was rich and filled with the weakest people that could ever be found. They attacked, plundering and killing everyone in sight. No one was spared, not even the women and children. But there was one boy who escaped the onslaught, hiding in a wine cellar. So for three days, a four year old Kade hid in the disgusting wine cellar and drank the dirtiest wine and ate whatever he could find, rats, cockroaches or if he was lucky, the occasional earthworm.
After three days, the young boy decided that he had enough. He was strong and tall for his age and could take on any bandit, at least in his mind. He came out, finding nothing alive in the town. Even the animals were killed. The plants were burnt to the ground and nothing was left of the houses but charred remains. Young Kade was devastated, running around and searching for any remains of anyone or anything. Nothing was there. Everything was either destroyed or stolen.
However, a raid such as this one does not go completely unnoticed by the outside world. A samurai fool-cum-hero, known as Tuliran Kjloroman had heard of the attack, but arrived quite late to make a rescue of any sort. He took Kade in, mending his broken heart and teaching him the values of life – particularly women, gambling and alcohol. Eventually, when he was six years old the young boy became his vibrant self once again.
Kjloroman was a great samurai, though that was greatly skewed by his love for those three sins. Kade began to learn these horrible things from the man as they traveled together. At first Kjloroman wanted to send the boy to the nearest orphanage, but every time he came back, no matter how fast the samurai moved. Eventually, he decided to care for the boy himself. As time passed, Kjloroman began to notice Kade had the strength, the will power and the love to become a samurai as great as himself. It was then that the chains of apprentice and master were formed.
It was long process, of ten years to be precise. His master’s carefree and lecherous spirit ensured that his apprentice was given a holistic view of the world, particularly the part that he enjoyed. Overtime, Kade began to enjoy those things too. Once again, he was a hit with the females almost instantly. He broke a lot of hearts, but his remained untouched. Also, after spending three days stuck in a wine cellar doing nothing but drinking alcohol one would obviously become addicted to the substance. And that was exactly what happened.
When he was sixteen years old, Kade began to notice that his thirty five year old master was slowing down, not being the vibrant warrior he once was. He knew that if he wanted to make his mark on the world like he had for the whole of his life, he would have to leave his master. So, after a tearful goodbye and assurances they would meet again, master and apprentice parted ways.
Kade journeyed from town to town, from continent to continent drinking alcohol and fornicating with countless women but nothing progressed from there. He found himself no closer to becoming famous and the only thing that kept him going was the thought of the next woman in the next town. Eventually, though by chance, Kade ran into two different personalities which ultimately sculpted the person that he became. The first was Max Dirks, who he met while he took part in the Simulated Strike Scenario, where he began to learn the skills of combat in Althanas. This intrigued him and he began to slowly lose his despicable habits, especially when he encountered Logan McCloud who increased his proficiency with his weapons. As time went by, he began to slowly lose those desires as his urge to become famous grew and grew.
Kade was given the platform to perform when he encountered the powerful elven mage Elrundir Galadhrim. The fight ended as a draw, but at that moment, the samurai began to develop a lust for power so he could defeat Althanas’ greatest. He would force his way into the annals of history. This led to a fruitful journey to the necromancer city of Nakaleth with the ranger Raevyrn Taerael where he found the Crest of Myrusia, a mystical headband with untold powers.
It turned out that it was one of the many crests that were being searched for by the powerful Adam Mada Deus, leader of a power group known as the Façade. As one of the ‘chosen’ crest holders, Kade was instantly accepted into their ranks. It was there that he learnt about the powers within his Crest. It granted him superhuman strength and speed, but at the sacrifice of control of his body. By the time, he realized this though, it was too late and the presence within the crest had become so strong on his mind that he could not muster the strength to rid himself of it. During his time with the Façade, Kade made many friends, particularly the bandit Yari Rafanas who he enjoyed many adventures with.
The definitive moment of his career came when the Façade, in a bid for power, declared war on the Ice Reavers. This pitted Kade against his friends Treszlin and Promethius, as well as the powerful ice demon Ashiakin. During the war, in a bid of desperation, the samurai invoked the powers of the Crest of Myrusia to defeat a Ice Reaver. Unfortunately, he also turned the tide of the war by killing Treszlin, the Ice Reaver Leader. His next victim was his friend and comrade, Yari Rafanas. He even briefly fought with Ashiakin, though the demon ultimately got away. At the conclusion of the war, ashamed with his sins, Kade left the Façade, triggering the exodus of members.
During that time, he wandered around Althanas trying to serve a form of self penance for his sins by saving people and performing minor acts of heroics but none even came close to filling the void in his life. It was then that he felt as though vigilantism could have solved his problem but it did nothing except build his bad reputation. Due to his publicized acts in the Ice Reaver-Façade war and his sense of twisted justice, he began to gain the nickname – “Kadarus the Bleeder.” However, it was not long before the Tel Aglarim of Raiaera began to grow suspicious and decided that his presence was harmful to their country. They attacked him with intent to kill but the samurai managed to escape to Salvar, the one place he thought he could find peace and repent for his sins.
Instead of staying with civilization, Kade journeyed into the icy wilderness, searching for something, anything that could restore him to his former self. It was there that he encountered Direlings, a race of immensely strong humanoids, which served as acolytes to their Elder Thayne, the god Hromagh the Strong. Mistaking them for monsters, the samurai’s warrior instincts made the mistake of slaying one. From the very mountains, a horde of them appeared, mauling him to death. The creatures took his corpse to their main temple of worship in Salvar. It was there that they made his offering in an attempt to try and curb their god’s eternal wrath.
It did not work, but Hromagh calmed down for enough time to name Kadarus as too useful to be discarded to the Phantaria and instead sent his soul to the Pyre. There, his soul was subjected to heavy manipulation while Hromagh’s disciples performed similar rituals on his body. The process was long, but when the being formerly known as Kade Lien returned to the Firmament, he was completely different to the one that had existed before.
He had been given the purpose that he had been seeking. He had become a servant to Hromagh the Strong, given the title of his Emissary of Balance. His aim in life had been changed from pointless to one that his new god found meaningful. Hromagh viewed Althanas as being too populated by those that he viewed as unworthy and he had created his emissary for one reason… To restore balance to the world.
However, to ensure that his vision of Survival of the Fittest was to become reality, Hromagh needed his emissary to be calculating and judgmental, as well as devoted to his task. With Kade’s habits as well as his personality, he was far from fit to become that servant. Hromagh’s power was vast though and such a task was easy for him. He stripped the samurai of his emotions, essentially stealing his heart, and locked them away in an unknown location. He then began to warp his powers to make him more ideal for his mission until he became almost unrecognizable.
With his newly formed scion in place, Hromagh and his disciples unleashed Kadarus on the world, ironically naming him “The Valentine Bleeder.”